Rain
by The Spork Warrior
Summary: Heero sits in the rain and allows his thoughts to wander and his voice to sing. [ONESHOT, EDITED, 121]


Title: Hear You Me

Author: HeeroDuo1x2x1

Genre:

Pairings: 1+2

Disclaimer: I don't own GW, dumbass.

Babble: Ah, another one-shot that I actually can't believe I was able to finish. It's not the one I was supposed to be working on... but meh. shrug

Furious waves of water fell from the sky, and Heero Yuy didn't care. He stood, staring up at the celestial floodgate with a blank expression on his face, but his eyes spoke volumes. Pain and sadness swam in the endless cobalt depths, begging to reach the callous surface that worked as Heero's one protection from the world. He ignored the rain that trickled down his face, all the water molecules trying to push together to just get a feeling of the silent youth's defined face. He ignored the loud pitter patter the wet droplets made on the sidewalk and on his shoulders. He ignored the people moving about him with their umbrellas opened as they went into the sizable building behind him, ignorant of the sopping teenager sitting on the curb. The black clouds overhead calmed Heero's troubled mind, while the warm summer thunderstorm relaxed his body. But the sadness lurking in his eyes never faded, even as the rain worked its magic on the drained ex-soldier.

During the war, Heero hadn't paid much attention to the rain. In fact, he hadn't paid much attention to anything aside from the mission. But as he sat out in the rain, with the warm breeze blowing as the whispering droplets fell, Heero realised that it was a shame that he'd missed so many beautiful thunderstorms. It was times like this that he wished he could have been more like his tenacious comrade, the ever-present Duo Maxwell. The braided youth had always been outgoing, and had, on more than one occasion hurried out from the safety of whatever safe house they'd been occupying to play in the rain. Heero had always pushed it aside like so much foolishness and overlooked it. He saw such antics as impractical, and always told Duo as much when he returned soaking wet and complaining about his hair.

A sigh overtook Heero and he forced himself to regard the parking lot before him. A deep puddle was forming around his sneaker clad feet, but he found himself not bothered as he sang softly under his breath, an old tune that he'd gotten a liking for over the past year, "_There's no one in town I know, you gave us someplace to go._"

He never used to sing. He had found music as useless as fooling around in the rain, but with the end of the war he had grown fond of the collaborations of lyrics and instruments and rhythms. Completely aware that he wasn't the best vocalist in the known universe, he was content to just sing or whisper the tune of a song under his breath when he felt the need to. When he had arrived in town a few months earlier, Heero slowly noticed that he was humming a tune more often than he had when he was in space. It shocked him, the one time he had been shopping only to have a middle-aged woman say that his voice was a nice grave bass that sounded quite nice _pianissimo_ and _a cappella_. The woman had even gone as far as to give him the phone number of a "wonderful vocal tutor" who had taught her son. He never planned to call the renowned tutor, but thanked the woman anyway and went about his business.

A crack of thunder brought Heero back from his thoughts and the unhappiness in his eyes delved deeper. He had started his bouts of soft singing in an effort to elevate some of the silence that surrounded him. After so long of a time being around Duo, he'd grown weary of the quiet that billowed out and swallowed him whenever the braided boy wasn't near. He wasn't sure if the aversion to what he used to find sacred was negative or not, but he was fully aware that it was all the chatterbox's fault.

Looking back up to the sky and the grey clouds, he sang the next part of the song, just as softly as before, "_I never said thank you for that. I thought I might get one more chance._" His soft crooning was comforting, somewhat. He had just felt... empty. It was the only word his mind could pin it on, and it seemed to be the best that anyone would come up with, had they been given the chance. It was the only word to even begin to describe the aching hole in his heart.

"_What would you think of me now, so lucky, so strong, so proud?_" he continued to croon, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees as he sang. '_To hell if anyone hears me,_' he thought, swallowing hard as he continued, "_I never said thank you for that, now I'll never have a chance._" Sorrow was evident in his voice, but he made no efforts to check it. It didn't bother him in the least.

For once, he was going to pretend he was normal. A normal teenager sitting out in the rain, singing and knowing that he'd probably never see the only person he'd ever let get close to him again. Knowing that just behind him, in the cold, white-washed hospital, his only friend, the only person he could honestly say he cared for was probably going to die because of some stupid drunken asshole.

"_May angels lead you. Hear you me my friends._" He choked back an insistent sob, raising his face once more to the heavens, his eyes pleading with whatever deities to help the charismatic youth. He'd never believed in God or Yahweh or Allah or whatever the hell the organised religions believed in, but he didn't care. He didn't care that he was begging gods that may or may not exist. He just didn't want Duo Maxwell to die, didn't want the song he was singing to be true by the end of the day. "_On sleepless roads the sleepless go. May angels lead you in._" The rain came down harder as tears began to roll down the stoic boy's face.

"_And if you were with me tonight, I'd sing to you just one more time._" He had been singing to Duo that same evening when the car rounded the corner, going well above the residential area speed limit of 25 miles per hour. Drunk drivers are like that, speeding around curves with no regard to the life that just might be caused to flicker or to be snuffed out in a moment of hazy intoxication. The woman in driving the car was one of those people, barely even giving the two teens on the side walk a second glance as she swerved off the road and onto the walkway. She didn't notice as she struck Duo, didn't notice as he was sent flying back and onto some poor elderly man's lawn, didn't notice the anguished cry that ripped from both boys throats as it happened.

The woman was unaware of what she had done, unaware of the gust of wind she'd subjected a strong candle to, thus causing it to flicker uncontrollably, threatening to be blown out. Someone had dialed for the police, someone had gathered the woman's license plate number, someone had done everything a good Samaritan is supposed to do in such a situation. Heero had hastened to Duo's side, his mind in a frenzy. He was terrified to look upon the damage that the woman had inflicted, but like most, he couldn't help but stare. He knew better than to move Duo's incapacitated form, and just knelt beside him, gently clinging to his blood splattered hand. As the sirens of the ambulance rang in Heero's ears, it had started to rain.

Fighting back another sob, he continued to sing, praying that the next line wouldn't come to be, "_A song for a heart so big, god wouldn't let it live._" He couldn't continue, couldn't bring himself to finish the song. He didn't want to sing anymore, he just wanted to wrap his arms around his knees and curl up in a fetal position. He just wanted Duo to be all right. The racking sobs shook him, and he let them. He hadn't cried for quite a while, hadn't really found it to be something he needed to do. But sitting on that curb in front of the looming hospital singing about the probable demise of the self-proclaimed god of death seemed like the perfect reason to break down. The hospital staff that milled about behind him, taking their breaks, smoking cigarettes, and the patients entering and leaving with their children or spouses barely gave Heero a second glance. Someone sobbing at a hospital wasn't that unusual, after all.

"Mr. Yuy," a soft, very dainty voice spoke from a few feet away, "May I speak with you?"

Heero wiped the tears from his face, only for them to be replaced by the rain mere moments later, as he stood and turned to face the nurse behind him. She stood beneath an umbrella, and she smiled kindly at him. Heero's grief stricken face didn't change. He knew that doctors and nurse all did the same thing. Smile if the patient is all right, and smile if the patient is currently dead. '_It doesn't matter to them,_' his mind provided, '_As long as they get that paycheck._' He steeled his face and his mind and nodded to the small nurse.

She took that as all she needed, "Doctor McCranie just wants to have a word with you." The nurse smiled again, this time with compassion behind it, "I'm sure what she has to say is good."

The look he gave the nurse would have packed more weight had his eyes not been red from tears and his entire body soaked. He nodded again, letting out a raspy "thank you" before making his way towards the emotionless hospital. He hated hospitals. He knew that Duo was the same way, and that the last place he'd want to die would be in such a cold place. Heero swallowed, following the nurse who had followed him in towards who knows where. He didn't focus on how to get where ever they were going, and he could barely focus on what the nurse was saying to him. Probably some kind of soothing words to make learning that the only person he loved was about to die a bit easier to deal with. That "he's going to a better place" bullshit that any religious person would swallow up. To Heero, it would only make it worse.

So he blocked the nurse out, assuming that she was going through that tired routine. Before he realized it, he was standing in front of another woman. She towered over Heero, his head only reaching her shoulders, and he had to step back and look up to see her warmly smiling face. She was in her late 30s', and Heero knew she did her job because she loved it, not for the money. He felt an odd sense of respect for the tall woman.

"I'm Dr. Margaret McCranie." She offered a hand to Heero, who hesitantly shook it, "I'm one of the doctor's who operated on the boy you came in with."

Dr. McCranie had sounded almost boastful as she announced herself as one of the surgeons, and Heero couldn't help the hopeful feeling that welled in his chest, "Is he going to be okay?"

"It will take awhile, but yes. He should recover nicely." She informed, but her smile wasn't as bright.

Heero didn't fail to notice this and looked at the doctor suspiciously, "But?"

"But even after he's made a full recovery, he may have lasting scarring on a majority of his body. He's lucky, though. Most of the broken bones are clean breaks." She paused, looking over the trembling brown-haired youth before her, "I'll prescribe a pain medicine for him, and you may want to get him something to minimize the scarring."

"He'll live," It wasn't a question, but a relieved statement. "May I... May I see him?"

Dr. McCranie nodded, and escorted Heero into the room behind her. She watched as the boy who was singing such a sad song outside rushed towards the bed, his sadness now on the back burner while happiness danced in his eyes at seeing Duo, not flickering or snuffed. He sat down in one of the uncomfortable chairs and started to sing another song for the injured boy while the doctor silently closed the door behind her. Outside, the rain had stopped falling.

Heero sat at the window, staring out at the rain soaked streets. A thunderstorm had knocked out the lights and sent the world on the other side of the glass into a realm of moisture and whispered praise of the life giving liquid. He hadn't sat out in the rain since the accident. He didn't really want to. Watching as a bolt of lightning struck miles away, he rested his head on his palm and continued to stare. The sound of the rain pounding against the window was deafening, and Heero only barely noticed the sound of Duo padding across the floor before the long-haired boy put an arm around his shoulders. Heero smiled ever-so-slightly, turning and glancing at Duo.

"Couldn't sleep?" Heero questioned the violet-eyed youth. The lightning striking outside illuminated Duo for a split second, haloing him in ethereal light and Heero found it to be an amazing sight.

Duo sighed and made a face, "Nope. I ache everywhere, and I couldn't stop tossing and turning." he rubbed his bare arm, faint scars marring the otherwise flawless skin.

"The rain does that," his response was simple, and he slid over a bit, making room for Duo to sit down next to him.

Taking Heero up on his offer, Duo sat, leaning heavily against the warmth next to him. He felt Heero's arm snake around him, and he grinned, snuggling even closer. He looked up at his love with pleading amethyst eyes, "Sing to me?"

With a small smile, Heero began to sing in his grave bass, not afraid to sing fortissimo to drown out the sound of the falling rain.

A/N: And we all know I'm a closet sap... so... yeah. Hope you enjoyed!

P.S. I almost killed off Duo, but decided against it at the last minute. If the readers didn't kill me, I probably would have, lol. So... yeah.


End file.
